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Longmont United adopts new vein pattern recognition system

Protecting patients' IDs, streamlining registration are some of the reasons for the new system, hospital officials say

By Tony Kindelspire

Times-Call staff writer

Posted:
08/29/2014 08:10:09 PM MDT

Updated:
09/01/2014 12:37:27 PM MDT

Longmont United Hospital is the first hospital in Colorado to use the PatientSecure Biometric ID system to register patients. A reader scans a person's vein pattern in their palm and an algorithm converts that scan to a numeric formula that is associated only with that individual. Hospital official say it will streamline registration, protect against insurance fraud and even improve patient care. (Tony Kindelspire / Longmont Times-Call)

Jessica Sabec performs a mock registration with a Longmont United Hospital film crew Friday morning to demonstrate how the hospital's new PatientSecure Biometric ID system works. The film will be used for educational purposes. The system reads a person's vein pattern in their palm and attaches that information to their medical records, streamlining registration and better protecting patients' identities and medical records, hospital officials say. (Tony Kindelspire / Longmont Times-Call)

The formation of the vein pattern in one's palm actually predates a person's birth. And like a fingerprint, no two are alike.

Longmont United Hospital has become the first hospital in Colorado to use a vein pattern recognition system for patient identification.

Michael Jefferies, LUH's vice president of information systems, said the hospital installed the PatientSecure Biometric ID system in July and rolled it out first to all its staff members and then to the public a week later.

The system uses a light to scan the vein pattern on a person's palm and an algorithm converts that image into a numerical formula that is forever attached to that individual's medical records.

"The vein pattern is formed in the womb," Jefferies said. "We don't use it for kids until they're 5 years old just because of the size of the scanner. We need a good image."

He said there were multiple reasons why the hospital decided to go with the new system. It solves the problem of duplicate patient records; it prevents medical record overlay — which happens when two people have the same name and birthday — and it streamlines registration.

"It makes it virtually impossible for anyone to come in and pretend to be you," LUH registrar Jessica Sabec told an employee who was part of a film crew Friday, during a demonstration of how the new system works. The hospital intends to use the film as an educational tool for its patients.

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Sabec took the man's information, asked a few rudimentary questions and then had him place his palm on a small reader a little bigger than a deck of cards. A near-ultraviolet light scans the vein pattern, he lifts it up, and then it's scanned a second time for confirmation.

For the rest of his life, the man will merely need to give his first and last name and scan his palm and his ID will be confirmed and his medical records come up instantly.

"Even if, God forbid, you're brought into the ER unconscious, we can still scan your palm and identify you," Sabec told the man.

And because the scan is converted to a mathematical formula, rather than the image itself being copied, there is no way anyone could ever reproduce a copy of the vein pattern, Jefferies said.

Fraud prevention is another big reason why LUH decided to go with the new system, he said. And the information is not stored in the "cloud" somewhere, Jefferies added — it's on secure servers on the LUH campus.

"It's stored here at the hospital and we don't share it with anybody," he said.

Self-serve kiosks will be installed at the hospital later this year, where patients won't even have to deal with a registrar directly but can simply scan their own palm to check in, Jefferies said.

The PatientSecure systems will also be rolled out at all LUH clinics, in Niwot, Lyons, Frederick and Berthoud, early next year, he said.

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